Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1285: The Sound of Forbidden Truth

Commercial Airship Passenger Cabin

Capital City Eblor

Aelum Kingdom

April 13th

Year 1056

The Aelum Kingdom’s Royal College of King Edrion II was the nation’s foremost higher educational institution, established by the second king of Aelum, who believed that the highest level of learning in his era was still insufficient to prepare the youths who would one day lead the kingdom.

Built upon that vision, the college became a foundation for advanced study, where both nobles were required to attend by law, and talented commoners were admitted through scholarships, creating a rare convergence of bloodlines and backgrounds within a single academic space.

Over the years, it had produced a significant number of the kingdom’s most renowned scholars, strategists, and academic figures, firmly securing its place as the number one institution of higher education in the Aelum Kingdom.

Today marked the second-to-last day of the 1055/1056 academic session, the eve of the graduation ceremony, where a graduation party was held within the academy grounds for the students.

"And that’s exactly why I’m here, Princess Sharon," Evan said, closing the college brochure he had been skimming through and looking up at the Aelum Kingdom’s Fourth Princess, who was seated opposite him.

Both of them were inside an airship headed toward the college grounds, alone within the private cabin with no one present aside from the princess’s Lady-in-Waiting and Evan’s contracted spirit, who was currently in the form of a cat resting on his lap.

It had been ten days since Evan and Leoniel fought Kranul and destroyed the Kudatha Mountain Range in the process, and Evan had spent the time that followed doing two things.

First, he was recovering from the damage he had suffered that day.

Second, he was denying all allegations from the Tharvorian Tribal Council that claimed he and Leoniel had been involved in what had happened in Kudatha that day.

He and Leoniel had been seen in the Region less than an hour before the mountain range’s destruction, making them the primary suspects.

But in the end, that was all they were, suspects.

That final clash had erased every trace of Evan’s presence. All the spirits he had temporarily contracted had retreated when Kuro took Laurene and Eliza out of there, and his Einherjar and Factor Mimic had left no traces behind.

What’s more, Evan had only used Mesarthim’s RED flames in that final clash, so the fires the Barbarian Chiefs encountered when they arrived at the ruins were red, a rather common flame colour that couldn’t be linked to Evan alone.

The presence of fire at the site of an explosion was nowhere near enough to tie Evan to the incident.

Also, Evan and Leoniel had used a teleportation waypoint to travel to another Region of Tharvoria, the Fiaclus Region, where the Tombs of the Barbaric Morass were located.

Those Tombs were exactly where they both went, and since they made no effort to conceal their appearances, they drew attention and were photographed while there.

When Evan was later asked where he had been during the incident, he simply told them to check the Adventurer’s Guild logs in Fiaclus and confirm that he and Leoniel were officially recorded as having entered the Tombs.

Insisting that they used teleportation to arrive that quickly would only make it seem like they were trying to pin responsibility on Evan, and that wouldn’t reflect well on them, so they had to drop the allegations.

Evan then spent the next few days in Fiaclus, killing all the Demonic Hand members he came across within the Tombs of the Barbaric Morass, before heading to the Aelum Kingdom’s capital.

His first destination upon arriving in Eblor was his newly acquired estate in the south, and Evan, having made no attempt to hide his presence, naturally drew the attention of the Kingdom’s ruling family, who then sent Princess Sharon to inquire about the reason for his presence within their borders.

"And like I just said, it’s because I want to visit the college," Evan said, repeating his reason as he poured more sugar into his already sweet strawberry juice.

"You came all the way here just to visit the college?" Sharon asked, finding that a bit difficult to believe.

She naturally already knew about the Kudatha Mountain Range’s destruction and the fact that the Barbarian Chiefs suspected Evan, so she couldn’t simply interpret his presence here as a whim.

"Believe it or not, Princess Sharon, that’s the reason," Evan said with a shrug.

He downed his juice in one go, and while Sharon wondered how he could even tolerate it given the amount of sugar she had just seen him pour in, Evan continued speaking.

"I’ve never been to an educational institution since I came to this world, you know?"

Sharon blinked at the sudden words, all thoughts of sugar and juice leaving her mind.

Evan’s phrasing was unusual, but she quickly assumed he meant ’since he was born’, when in reality, he didn’t and was speaking literally.

He knew she was misunderstanding, but since that was his intention, he didn’t bother correcting her and continued.

"I did run away from home before I was due to attend any schools, and because of everything that’s happened in my life since then, attending school hasn’t really been a priority for me."

He brought out another bottle from his inventory and poured himself a drink as he spoke.

"So, while I came here to look for someone, I thought I might as well check out the school while I’m at it," Evan finished, returning the bottle to his inventory and replacing it with a box of cookies Eliza had baked for him that morning.

Sharon exhaled lightly, nodding to herself as she remembered that just a few years ago, in Year 1051, Evan had been a runaway who had escaped from the Ducal Mansion in the GWE’s capital, Gerfast, an incident that had caused quite an uproar when it happened.

It was a scandal for the Eris Ducal Family at the time, but no one could have imagined that the runaway would now become one of the most influential people in the world.

’In a mere 5 years at that...’

Still, the revelation that a Duke’s son and a Marquis with his own title had never attended any formal educational institution wasn’t enough to pull Sharon away from something Evan had just said.

"You said you were looking for someone. Might I ask who they are?" she asked politely.

Sharon hadn’t forgotten the reason she had come to visit Evan at his estate and was now on an airship with him, heading toward the Royal College.

"They’re an old acquaintance of mine," Evan answered calmly, like he had nothing to hide. "We met under rather unfortunate circumstances.

They were being compelled by external forces to do things they didn’t want to, and I..."

Evan trailed off, rubbing his chin as he considered how best to describe the situation.

"You saved them from their circumstances?" Sharon asked after his silence.

"Hmm? Oh, no. I didn’t do anything like that. They already had a way to save themselves," Evan said, rejecting her suggestion.

"It’s just that I was in a position to crush all of their hopes of being saved and leave them to a fate even worse than death."

The topic turned grim all of a sudden, but Evan still continued speaking in his usual casual tone.

"But I, of my own free will, chose not to crush their hopes since I knew they truly didn’t want to be against me, and were being forced by a group of individuals who really disgusted me."

"This little tale of yours has quite the cast of characters," Sharon said, lightly probing Evan for names.

But whether Evan noticed her intent or not, he waved his hand dismissively and said, "It doesn’t matter. Besides my acquaintance, my companions at the time and I killed all the other members of the cast."

"..."

The princess silently gulped at how casually Evan spoke of it, and Evan, glancing out the window beside him and noticing the signs of the airship’s descent, continued.

"Anyway, I’m in a situation where I need help, and their skillset would be of significant use to me, so I’m looking for them to ask for assistance.

I didn’t doom them to a fate worse than death even though they were against me and came at me with intent to kill, so I hope they remember that favour and assist me in my own goals."

Sharon didn’t respond after Evan spoke, racking her mind as she tried to think of how she could ask him for more information.

But before she could even form a sentence, Evan spoke again.

"I know you’ve likely been told to find out why I’m here, but even if I told you the details, Princess, you’d hear not a word I say."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Evan raised his gaze from his glass at Sharon’s question, his grey eyes meeting the princess’s blue ones in silence for a moment before he spoke.

"m̸͎͑͠ő̸̪̒d̵̺̥̈́͛ǧ̷̪̀ń̸̫i̸̯̬̔̕K̸̙̆ ̴̩̆̐m̵̺͌̂u̷̻͚͐l̷̤̠̊̓e̶̗͒Ȁ̸̞̻ ̴̘͎̇͗e̸̩̊͋͜h̶̥͒͑t̶̹́ ̷̭̪̔͌y̵͚̓͝o̶̝̥̕ŗ̷̪̿̎t̶̲̬̍s̷̹̎e̸͖̅d̷̻͉̈̊ ̴̞̽̈o̷͈̕t̵͈̉̌ ̶̮̇ͅD̴͙́͂Ṋ̵̏͂E̴̳̐̄ ̶̥͕͊̀e̴̖͙̔̌h̶͕͑t̶̳͛́ ̷̞̃͜f̵̭͌o̵̬̓̏ ̷̰͛̄f̵̹́l̴̦̎͘o̵͓͍̾͝W̷̛̭̑ ̶̹͊͠ͅe̶͖̱̚ḫ̶͖͐t̶̪̗͝ ̵̺̈́e̷̪̠͂s̶̢̀͆u̴͖̅̕ ̶̦͆͗o̸̫̥̾ṭ̴̓͘ ̸̍̎ͅs̸̘̰͐̈́ẗ̶͖́͘n̷̬̻͆̆a̴̛̲͓͘w̷̝̾ ̶̦͉̈d̵̦̲̆ṇ̸̓͌á̸͔̬̐H̷̺̝̉ ̴̲̆c̵̩̥̿͝ǐ̷͙͋n̶̘̣̕ó̸͇̥m̷̭̏ẻ̵̙D̵̛̳͖̉ ̶͖̓e̸̝̹͗͌h̶̠̓̓T̷͔̝͑̾"

"!!—w-wwhat the heck!? ?!"

Sharon instantly lost her usual decorum, unable to hold back the shocked exclamation that escaped her lips as she clutched her ears, her expression scrunching up in pain. Her Lady-in-Waiting reacted no differently, her head aching from the sudden migraine brought on by the sound that had just entered her ears.

Evan chuckled at their reactions, rising from his seat as he swirled the juice in his glass. He looked down at the stunned princess, a small smile on his face as he said,

"There are certain things in this world that not everyone is allowed to know, Princess Sharon. Do well to let your father know that."

The airship shook lightly as it made contact with the ground, and without saying anything further to Sharon, Evan turned away and headed toward the door to disembark from the craft.